


The Prom Night Incident

by MishiWrites



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Threats of Violence, duck season wabbit season, it's not very serious though don't worry, kabedon but there's an exit, teen dumbassery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27586600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MishiWrites/pseuds/MishiWrites
Summary: It was two weeks to Prom and Antonia Kouichi had totally spaced on finding a date.Suspiciously, Butch was not only available but willing.
Relationships: Butch DeLoria/Female Lone Wanderer, Butch DeLoria/Lone Wanderer
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	The Prom Night Incident

"... and don't forget, class, Prom is coming up. Save those luxury rations for a nice outfit. Class dismissed." Mr. Brotch focused his attention on grading papers as his students started packing up their things and filing out.

It was two weeks to Prom.

Amata turned to her best friend: "Have you asked anyone out? You better ask someone soon or you'll get stuck with Freddie Gomez."

It was two weeks to Prom and Antonia Kouichi had totally spaced on finding a date.

"Hey, don't even _think_ of poaching my date!" Susie Mack snapped on her way by. She was gone before the other two girls could respond, but Toni seemed to have ignored the outburst anyway. Amata glared. "What a bitch..."

"I was thinking of asking Paul..." Toni muttered. They'd dated for a while, but they had had to keep it a secret - Paul didn't want the rest of the Tunnel Snakes to find out. Ultimately it hadn't worked out... But options were limited in the Vault and the alternatives to Paul didn't bear thinking about.

Amata suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Actually... Paul's going with me."

"You? But..."

"I'm sorry, Toni, but it's not like any of us have that much choice. Besides, I thought you broke up with him."

"I did, but..." Toni heaved a big sigh. "Boys suck. I-I-I don't see why we need dates at all. Can't we go stag?"

Amata didn't answer. They both knew it was going to be a couples event. Her father had expressed concern about the Vault's dwindling population and something told her events that 'gently encouraged' the youth to pair off were going to become more common.

"So you're with Paul, Susie's with Freddie." Toni punched in the names in a memo on her pipboy.

"I overheard Wally asking Janice Wilkins out a few days ago. You dodged a bullet on that one."

Toni nodded in agreement. Wally Mack didn’t know how to treat girls, on top of being a brute. If there was anyone Toni wanted to date _less_ than Butch DeLoria, it was him.

"That puts me, Butch, and Christine Kendall as the only ones without dates."

"Ew, Christine can _have_ him."

"Christine is, in fact, taking Jim Wilkins to the dance." Mr. Brotch interrupted them from his desk. "Now if you ladies could leave, that would help. Class has been out for half an hour and I still have work."

Both girls made their apologies to their teacher and left.

"Nice of Christine to invite Jim." Toni commented. Jim was the youngest student in the older class, the one that had graduated two years ago - young enough that he could reasonably attend this class's dance, but old enough that he hadn't registered as an option to Toni, even though at this point she ought not be picky. Who had Jim gone with at his own Prom? She didn’t know.

"Why isn't she going with Butch? Then you could go with Jim."

"N-no, no need to drag him into this drama. I'll go alone."

It was two weeks to Prom, and Butch DeLoria was somehow the only boy left without a date.

\---

He was waiting for them in the corridor, leaning against the lockers. Trying to look cool. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? Coupla nerds, staying late after class?"

"Get lost, loser." Amata said. Toni just wanted to keep walking. But Butch put himself in their path.

"I'm not here for a fight today." He held his hands up as if to surrender.

"In that case, you won't mind stepping aside." Amata tried to step forward, but Butch wouldn't budge. In fact, he also advanced. Amata retreated.

"Or what, Amata. You gonna call your daddy?" He could at least come up with a different line. Didn't he take this same tack last week before the G.O.A.T. exam? However, this time it wasn't the whole gang, so Toni couldn't use the divide and conquer method she'd used last time. Besides, she was pretty sure _she_ was the target today, and not Amata. That being the case, she sighed, and wedged herself in between her friend and her enemy.

"Wh-what do you want, Butch?"

"Matter'o'fact, it's you I got business with, four-eyes. Was wondering when you were gonna speak up."

'Speak up'... he'd probably already forgotten she had a complex about her stammer, that absolute bastard. It was quite a few years ago already that most of the class, led by the Tunnel Snakes, had completely humiliated her during a presentation by making fun of her speech. She was _still_ getting over it. But like hell was she going to let that silence her.

"I d-didn't want to give you more attention than you d-deserved… which is to say, more than none."

"Now is that any way to speak to your new best friend?" New best friend… disgusting. He was a snake, and proud of it.

"What do you want?" Toni asked again. His face was so close she could smell his hair gel. She wrinkled her nose, but refused to back down.

"I'll tell you that when we're in private."

"A-a-anything you want to say you can say in front of Amata."

"Yeah, there's no way I'm letting Toni out of my sight with a worm like you around!" Amata chimed in. Standing nose-to-nose with Butch in the middle of the corridor, Toni was unaware of her friend's precise location, but she never doubted that Amata was still present and willing to back her up.

"Wow, scary." Butch did not seem the least bit frightened.

"So, so one last time. What. Do. You. Want?"

"Oh, haven't you figured it out, Poindexter? I'm surprised at you. See, it's Prom in a couple weeks, and I've done the math." He took a step back, all the better to gesture his mock disappointment at her apparent failure to grasp her predicament.

"Wow, Butch, c-congrats on finally m-mastering subtraction."

This close, she did not miss the satisfying flicker of irritation that crossed his features. But it was short-lived. He seemed determined to carry out his goal.

"... anyway, you're an egghead, you get it. Obviously I'm way outta your league, I get that you're too shy to ask a handsome guy like me out, so I'll save ya the trouble. Yes, I will go to Prom with you."

"No."

"O'course, you're gonna have to change your hair, I got some useful tips for ya-hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Halfway through his ramble Toni decided it was enough.

"Away from your nonsense! C-c'mon, Amata."

Both girls marched off, leaving a stunned Butch in their dust.

\------

The next morning, Butch was waiting for her, once again leaning against the wall. This was surprising. The waiting, not the tryhard wall-leaning. Dr. Kouichi left for work bright and early, and therefore so did his daughter. She was usually the first one to arrive at school. Butch was habitually tardy.

She pretended not to notice him as she went to retrieve her textbooks from her locker.

"Hey Kouichi. You never gave me an answer yesterday."

When she turned around to face him he had his hand braced against the wall. He loomed over her. The audacity.

"Yes I did. And it was 'no'."

"See I thought I heard that, but that would be stupid, and little smartypants Kouichi wouldn't be stupid." He was only blocking her right side, so she slid to her left.

He followed her, forcing her to keep sliding.

"A-a-are _you_ stupid? Do you, do you not understand the word no?"

"Do you seriously not get what an incredible opportunity you're passing up?"

"N-no, I'm fairly sure I'm well a, well aware." Slide, slide. She was careful not to get caught on the protruding locks.

"If you were, you wouldn't be saying no." He just kept following.

"Butch, have you for-for-forgotten who we a-aaaaaahhh!" The solid wall Toni had been pinned against gave way to thin air. Butch had driven her right out into the classroom doorway. She lost her balance and steadied herself against the back of a chair.

"Fallin' for me already?" Butch grinned, peeking into the room.

"Ew. Eeeeeew. Gross. Ew. No. Ew."

His expression at her over-the-top disgust seemed promising, but their other classmates started filing in and he said nothing more.

\---------------

"Now. Where were we? Oh yeah, I was lettin' you know you're wasting the chance of a lifetime." Once again, it was the end of class. The Overseer had called Amata away earlier in the day, so Toni was on her own. Butch swooped in immediately.

She sighed. "The chance to-to-to… date you? Pass."

She turned on her heel, intent on walking away, but he kept up with her, too closely. "I'm a generous man, so I'm gonna let that little gross freak-out you had earlier pass. But I'm warnin' you not to push it."

She elbowed him in the stomach. The gurgle he made was satisfying.

"A-a-and I'm warning you not to push me!"

He grabbed the collar of her Vault suit. "You wanna go, pipsqueak?! You wanna turn this into a brawl? I ain't gonna lose to you, little girl!"

He had her pinned to the wall. She'd seen him this angry before, but they hadn't come to actual blows since she was 12 and tackled Butch in class after he and Wally made fun of her stammer. After that he hit his growth spurt and decided that hitting girls was unsportsmanlike, and Toni, for her part, didn't want to risk injury picking fights with a boy who had a whole foot of height on her. Besides, she didn't want her father to worry.

So she looked him in the eye, her glare daring him to take his best shot. "I-i-if you need to threat-threaten a girl just for a date, you're much, you're much more sad and, and, and des-despicable than I ever, than I ever gave you credit for." 

She might as well have slapped him. The look on his face was panicked. "That's… that's not what I meant. Sorry. Shit. I'll see you later." And ran away.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last she saw of him.

\-------------

A note, slipped into Toni's locker at lunchtime the next day:

_Poindexter,_

_Here are some scientific, peer reviewed reasons for going to the dance with me. Y'know, brainy shit._

  * _I'm the hottest, most popular guy in school._
  * _Prom is gonna be like a couples thing so you're gonna look like a real loser if you show up without a partner._
  * _I am never ever ever gonna ask you out to anything else again so you better hop on this opportunity before it makes like a tree and stops existing._



_Sincerely, Butch DeLoria_

"He didn't even apologize for grabbing you? Unbelievable." said Amata, looking over the letter.

He actually had said 'sorry', she recalled. It was weird, it had slipped out automatically, matching the stricken expression on his face. Almost like he was a _decent person_.

But she wouldn't bother to defend his virtue. "My fault for letting him get close enough to do it…" Toni took a blank piece of paper and wrote the word 'Buttface' at the top of the page.

"Toni, you shouldn't blame yourself, if he hurt you I swear I'll never forgive him. Are you sure you’re okay?"

"Of course I am. That barely qualified as a-a fight. More like a scuffle." It _had_ gotten nasty in their tween years for a while.

She finished writing.

_Buttface,_

_I don't think you even know what scientific means. I can only assume you called your bogus list peer-reviewed because you got your little lizard friends to lick your butt and tell you what a great job you did. Which makes the whole premise of your letter flawed a priori. (That's latin for 'from the get-go', idiot.) I keep telling you there's nothing you can do to change my mind, but since you keep bugging me here are your concerns, addressed:_

  * _You're not that hot. Also, I don't care._
  * _I don't care._
  * _I can't WAIT for prom to be over so you never ever ever ask me out ever again._



_Sincerely, Antonia Kouichi_

\-------

A bottle of Nuka-Cola was placed on the table with a soft clink, and Butch slid into the seat opposite Toni at the diner, where she'd been reviewing for finals.

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot." 

Was the bottle of Nuka-Cola supposed to be a peace offering or an excuse to be in the diner? He was making no attempt to offer it to her. Just plunked it down on the table to get her attention. She decided to ignore it.

"I've lost count of how many... wrong feet you've gotten off on. Might, might as well call you a, a, a foot fetishist."

"Hah, hah. Look, I thought it out."

"Th-that must have been hard."

"Would you shut up for once? I'm trying to make nice here!" He slid the bottle forward. She stared at it blankly. With a huff, he took it back, opened it, and took a swig.

"Look, if you go to the dance alone, an' I go to the dance alone, we'll be the only two single people there and prob'ly end up having no one else to dance with anyway. Why not just make it official?"

Why did he want this so badly? It certainly couldn't be because she was his first choice…

"H-here's a question: why are _you_ the only guy without a date?"

"Hey, fuck you! I don't have to listen to that kinda talk from you of all people!"

"Why d-didn't you ask out any of your usual, usual floozies?"

"I did!" The retort seemed to have slipped out of him without thinking.

"Oh my god." Toni couldn't believe it. Was it her birthday? Was it Christmas? What a wonderful gift! What a wonderful opportunity to hurt him! "Th-they all turned you down, didn't they? They all made other arrangements so, so, so they wouldn't be st-stuck with you!" She couldn't help the evil, gleeful smile that spread across her face.

"Hey! Ladies love the Butch-man! But I'm a generous man… I, uh, I just gave my boys first crack at the chicks 'cause I know how much it would mean to them!"

"How touching." sneered Toni, who didn't believe a word of it. "Tell me, how, how did you piss off h-half the girls in the Vault?"

"Look, I don't have to do shit for them or you if I didn't want to. I got nothin' to prove. If I show up to prom alone, I'm still the coolest guy in the Vault, and you're still bottom of the heap, Nerdarella. So why don't you think about that for a bit?" He got up from the table, taking the bottle of Nuka-Cola with him. "I'm outta here."

"So much for, for making n-nice." Toni sighed.

\---------

"Reconsidered yet?"

It had been a week since Butch had started his campaign. He never let up. Any time she was by herself, he'd drop by and bug her. She hadn't yet managed to make him stop.

She tried saying she was severely allergic to jerks. He insisted he was a perfect gentleman. She tried telling him she was only interested in women. He had replied that he wasn't interested in making out with her. She suggested that being seen with her would lower his status among their classmates. He hadn't seemed worried. She told him she planned to have a highly contagious illness. He laughed in her face. He was so annoyingly persistent!

She was losing her patience.

"Y'know what, let me tell _you_ something!" she shouted, jabbing him with her index. "Y-you're not the only one with nothing to prove by going stag! N-no one cares what I do anyway so I have nothing to lose!"

He grabbed her wrist as she went in for another poke. The smirk he gave her had become so familiar over the past few days she thought she might be sick.

"Don't that mean, there’s nowhere to go but up?"

She wrenched her wrist from his grip. He let go easily, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Won't Susie and Chrissie be so jealous of you when they see you on my arm?"

He was so disgustingly conceited.

"I-I don't care what they think."

"Sure you don't want revenge? After all the times they called you an ugly nerd?"

 _Why_ was this still happening?

" _You_ think I'm a-an ugly nerd, too."

It had been a _week_.

"If you were _that_ ugly I wouldn't be asking you out."

She had only very rarely seen Butch stick to something so stubbornly.

"Ch-charming."

The first time was when he had made a bet with his friends to determine who would get to name their gang… a bet...

"Ain't I? So, what do you say?"

Toni blinked. She had been so deep in thought that, without realizing it, she'd allowed herself to be backed up against a wall again.

"Wh-what do you get out of this?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you asking me out? It's clearly not because of, because of my looks. A-and you'd be fine going alone…"

"I'm a nice guy! I felt sorry for you. We're all graduating soon an' you're gonna be alone forever, so I thought I'd do you a favor just this once."

So rude. But she wouldn't be distracted.

"Bull, bull hockey. You made a bet, didn't you? What was it, a week's luxury ration coupons if you got the girl who, who hates you most to go on a date with you?"

"C-c'mon, Poindexter, would I really do a thing like that?" He laughed nervously.

"Yes." She said bluntly. Oh, but she was so pleased with herself she couldn't keep her wooden expression up for long. This was such fantastic news.

"Okay, fine, ya got me. Congrats on figuring it out, Sherlock. So we both get somethin' out of going to prom together, so what?"

He wasn't asking her out because he felt sorry for her. That would have been pathetic and embarrassing. Or because he genuinely liked her, which would have been intolerable and awkward. He was asking her out to win a bet. Which meant…

She took a step forward. He took a step back.

"You lose if I don't agree to go out with you, don't you?" Her smile was frightening.

"Y-you don't know what the bet was about!" He bluffed.

She took another step forward. Again he retreated. Now she had the power, and it was wonderful.

"Oh, you don't have to tell me the details, it's… easy enough to guess. I'm so glad this is out in the open!"

"You are?" He blinked, his blue eyes daring to brighten with a glimmer of hope.

She had backed him up to the opposite wall, and she grabbed his collar and brought his face down to eye level.

"Yes! After all, it means all I have to do is keep saying no, and you lose! Thank you so much for this gift!"

\----------

"Hey-"

"No."

"Poindex-"

"No!"

"Lemme sweeten the-"

"Nope!"

"Truce?"

"Negative."

"Oh, so you're fine if I continue to harass you from now until prom night?"

"Oh, so even you ag-agree this is harassment?!!"

"I'm never gonna stop, baby!"

"I can do this til the e-end of time!"

"Look, can you just give me one-"

"No."

"C'mon, rea-"

"Non."

"I'm gonna keep-"

"Nyet."

"No."

"No."

"No."

"No."

"No."

"No."

"No."

"No."

"Wait, which one of us is which again?"

"You're an idiot, I'm the poor girl you attacked with, attacked with your stu-stupidity. What the heck w-was that supposed to accomplish?"

"Reverse psychology. But it worked!"

"No it didn't!"

"You stopped cuttin me off with no, didn't you?"

"No."

"Holy shit, you're the worst!"

\---------

She saw him coming and she started getting ready for another round.

"TIMEOUTLET'SHAVEATRUCE!"

"N- okay fine, I'm l-listening."

"So, goin' out with me isn't enough for you, which is crazy but you made that very clear. What if I sweeten the deal? From now until after the dance, we call a truce. No harassment, no insults, no tricks, no pranks. Complete cease-fire of all hostilities. How 'bout that?"

"Not enough."

"C'mon dollface-"

"'D-dollface?'"

"Yeah, 'dollface'. For the next couple days, you can say goodbye to Poindexter, Four-eyes, Dorkface, etc."

"Still not enough."

"Fine, all the Tunnel Snakes will be part of the truce, happy now?"

"Throw, throw in half your winnings from your bet and I'll th-think about it."

"You're bleeding me dry, here! Fine!"

"No deal."

"You double-crossing bitch!"

"I-i-i said I'd think about it!"

"You acted like it was gonna be yes!"

"Butch, I only want for you to, to do two things for me on prom night: lose, and stay a-away from me."

There was a long pause. Butch seemed to be processing something.

"Okay. I understand."

He… did? After all this time, had she really gotten through to him at last? Was he finally going to back off?

"...I'll pick you up at six forty-five, then!"

… of course, it was too good to be true.


End file.
